The present invention related to an equipment system, comprising at least one battery-operated electrical device, a rechargeable battery unit, and a battery charger, in which the battery unit has a monitoring circuit, which includes at least one operating parameter of the battery unit and furnishes a control signal, dependent on the operating parameter, for switching means that control the charging and discharging process of the battery unit.
In EP 665 628 A2, a recharge battery unit is described, which, on one hand, can be connected to a battery-operated electrical device in order to provide electrical energy to this device, and on the other hand, is useable in a charger device, in order to receive energy from it to its recharger. In the battery unit, a monitoring device is located, which includes at least one operating parameter, for example, the charging or discharge current or the terminal voltage of the battery unit and which furnishes a control signal, dependent on the operating parameter(s), for the switching means furnished in the battery unit, which controls the charging or discharging process of the battery unit. This means, for example, that this switching means interrupts the current flux from the battery unit to a connected electrical device, when the monitoring circuit registers a falling-short of a given discharge increase. Likewise, the control means interrupts the current flux from a charging device in the battery unit, when the control means in initiated by means of the control signal of the monitoring circuit.
In the rechargeable battery unit of EP 665 628 A2, then switching means for controlling the monitoring circuit as well as the charging or discharging process of the battery unit are found. In particular, with battery units, in which very high charging or discharge current flow, such as, for example, with the use of electrical tool apparatus that are operated with relatively high capacity, the switching means must switch very high capacities, which leads to a correspondingly high heat formation in the battery unit. In addition, the structural size of a battery unit increases when a monitoring circuit as well as the switching means for controlling the charging and discharging process are integrated.
Likewise, such a battery unit, which includes the monitoring circuit and the switching means for controlling the charging and discharging process, is expensive. In an equipment system, comprising at least one battery-operated electrical device, a rechargeable battery unit, and a battery charger, the battery unit is subject to the greatest wear. Thus, it is particularly undesirable to raise the price of the battery unit by integration as many electronic switches as possible.
The present invention addresses the underlying problem of providing an equipment system, comprising at least one battery-operated electrical device, a rechargeable battery unit, and a battery recharge of the above-described type, in which the battery unit has the least possible expenditure on electronic switches, in order to avoid the development of heat in the battery unit and, in addition, to maintain the structural size of the battery unit to the smallest possible.